


Cheese, sauce, and... Magic?

by AnoofMcTacos



Category: The Owl House (Cartoon)
Genre: Amity is a certified Luzbian, Angst I guess, Bullying, F/F, Fluff, Gay, Luz is a disaster Blightsexual, OK hear me out, Pizza. That's it, This is no longer a Lumity fic this is just a story about pizza, boschlow, its 3am im sorry, lesbians here, lumity do be hitting, magic n shit, mayb ill update this idk, pffft so im trash at tags, pizzaria au bc im dumb, point is it's gay, slowburn, yall idk how to write, yall im sorry for this
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-10-06
Updated: 2020-11-03
Packaged: 2021-03-07 19:34:21
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 20,025
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26853025
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AnoofMcTacos/pseuds/AnoofMcTacos
Summary: So this is a Pizzaria AU where it's pretty much the same as the show but theyre like, 17 and pizza exists on the boiling isle. Instead of Hexside it takes place in a pizza place bc im dumb and thought this would be a great idea lmao
Relationships: Amity Blight/Luz Noceda, Boscha/Willow Park, Emira Blight/Viney
Comments: 17
Kudos: 106





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> ahhh this is a dry run, if it isnt that great ahhh sorry, im kinda in a writing block so who knows

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The morning greeted me like any other, sun streaming through the stained glass window to my room, casting dancing colors across my floor. I reluctantly reached for my phone, barely awake enough to hit the silence button as I slowly pulled myself up. I sighed, rubbing the sleep from my eyes as I did. As I felt the sun hit my face, I slowly began to register why I was up so early. At my feet, I felt a warmth shifting as my cocoon buddy begrudgingly awoke. 

“Luz, you couldn’t have set that thing for later? I was getting my royal naps in!” squeaked the little demon, his horn jutting into my leg as he stretched. I did the same, feeling the occasional joint pop with underuse. 

“Listen bud, I gotta get up early today, I warned you plenty of times you know,” my voice trailed off as my eyes wandered around my room, landing on King, already drifting off to sleep, causing me to let out a sigh of exacerbation. I picked up the small demon and gave him a small kiss on his boney head before placing him on my pillow. I pulled myself to my feet, stretching once more for good measure. As I did so, I could feel the warmth of the sun seeping into my skin and lighting up my face, bright colors cascaded across my arms. It almost made me forget how early it was, however that did not last long as my eyes drifted to my phone, the time displayed in glowing white letters. I let out a groan, feeling the stiffness creeping back into my body. I shook it off and made my way to the pile of clothes I left on the floor, picking up whatever I could that wasn’t wrinkled or stained. 

I made a mental note to figure out a way to do laundry.

I quickly got changed, throwing my tank top and shorts haphazardly around by room. I cracked my back and headed out the room, grabbing my jacket from atop one of the many boxes. Slinging it lazily over my shoulder, I bounded down the stairs and rounded the corner into the kitchen. I grabbed a glass from one of the many, overfilled cabinets and poured myself a cup of apple blood, silently gagging at the dark red liquid filling the glass. I never got used to it, but it was the only thing left that didn’t smell like day old take-out. 

I slapped together a sandwich, using ingredients that I didn’t quite understand but tasted good nonetheless. I took a huge gulp of my drink, cringing to myself as the strangely thick liquid hit my throat, yet another sensation I couldn’t get used to no matter how hard I tried. The faucet over the sink seemed to automatically turn as I drew near, glass in hand. I ran it under the sink, letting the water fill it up, leaving a task for future Luz. 

I stuffed my sandwich in my mouth to wash out the odd texture on my tongue, and as I made my way towards the door, I pulled my jacket on completely. I froze when I began to pat down my pockets, realizing I had left my phone upstairs with King. Quickly, I made my way up the stairs, taking two at a time already running late. 

Darting past Eda’s room, I quietly threw my door open, slipping into my room and nearly diving for my phone. I stuffed the small rectangular device into my pocket and jumped back up. I flinched when I saw King twitch, concerned I had woken him up. He just rolled over, a yawn escaping his mouth as he shifted, seemingly unaffected by my stumbling through the room. A warm smile crept across my lips, warming my heart as I watched him peacefully sleep. He was much quieter that way anyway. 

I slowly closed my door again, nearly losing focus once more. I shook my head, getting back on track as I mentally counted the minutes in my head. If I wanted to get out of the house, I had to do it before Hooty woke up, which could be anytime within the next ten minutes to an hour. I mentally cursed myself for taking as long as I had. I cleared the stairs in a matter of minutes and made my way to the front door, stopping by the window and slipping on my shoes before gingerly placing my hand on the door handle. I let out a slow breath, silently praying that I wouldn't wake the infernal house demon. 

The handle clicked without a problem, Hooty still sound asleep as I slipped through a sliver of the door. I was in the open, now to get to my real task of the day. Get to work. 

As I walked down the trail from The Owl House, I thought back to the prior week, when I applied for a job at the local pizza place. It was a strange thought, pizza in the Boiling Isle, but then again pizza was a universal language. 

Every once in a while, I’d find bits and pieces from Earth that seeped into the Boiling Isle, but never in my wildest dreams would I imagine pizza in such a mystical world. It struck me as strange yet oddly comforting. Apparently it wasn’t as odd as I had originally thought, as there were multiple stores dotting the isle. 

I pulled my phone from my pocket, checking the time that lit up the screen. 7:33. I had about an hour and a half to get where I was going on time, but lucky for me, the walk wasn’t unbearable. In fact, the view was quite pretty, save for the occasional monster that could be seen in the distance. I took a bite of my sandwich, enjoying the cool air that met my skin as I walked. One of the similarities between Earth and the Boiling Isle was the weather. Sure, the summer was incredibly hot, but at least the fall was a bearable kind of cold, however if winter were anything like the summer, then I was in for tenfold snow. 

I watched as the sun began to rise in the sky, adding a pleasant change to the chill that was beginning to settle into my bones. 

The rest of my walk went on uneventfully, that was, until I reached the city, where the chaos of the day began to reach me. 

As soon as I entered the walls, I watched as a herd of school age children darted in front of me, tossing something that resembled a ball between them. It bounced from the grasp of one of the kids and rolled to my feet. They called for me to throw it back, so I reached for it, however as soon as I touched it, my hand recoiled. Instead of being met with the normal, rubber texture I was used to, my hand touched a fleshy texture that sent a pale wave across my body. I shuddered as I gingerly rolled the object back to the students, holding back a gag as I did. They cheered, clearly oblivious to the disgust present on my face. I watched them happily resume their makeshift game of catch and slowly tried to regain my composure. 

Moving on, I reached the market area of town, my eyes wandering to the various wares being peddled. There were strange looking oddities dotting the tents, eggs with strange patterns, meats from animals I didn’t care to know, and strangely crafted weapons that didn’t seem physically possible. The market was never boring, as there were small fights starting to break out over the smallest disagreements in prices. One such fight spilled into the streets ahead of me, scattering the aforementioned weapons across the dirt ground. I jumped out of the way as a burly cyclopsian man stumbled forward, sending copious stolen items flying to the spot I had been standing previously. I let out a small yelp as my legs went out from under me, sending me tumbling into the dirt. I scrambled to get up, slightly tripping over myself as I did. It felt as though my entire body was being pulled down, however that clearly wasn’t the case, I’m just clumsy. I finally managed to pull myself up using one of the nearby stands, quickly attempting to brush off any dirt from my multiple embarrassing impacts with the ground, but I still felt it clinging to my arms and hair. 

“Watch where you’re going!” A gruff voice sounded, pulling my eyes up to realize that I had in fact knocked over the hulking man that had previously stumbled before me. My eyes shot open in alarm, scared of what he’d do to me, when instead he simply brushed me out of the way and re-engaged with his previous grievance. 

I ran my fingers through my hair, trying to knock out any loose dirt before I continued down the street. I reached for my phone before realizing it wasn’t in any of the pockets I thought it could be, sending a shock of panic through my body. I turned back to see the gruff customer picking it up off the ground, as I sprinted back fast as I could, steadying myself so I wouldn’t fall again. I wove my way past shopkeeps and customers alike, trying to reach the man before the morning crowd drowned me. 

I skidded to a halt meere inches from the man and watched as he inspected the new item in his possession. He shook it, rotated it, and peered into it to no avail. Finally, he found the power button and turned it on, nearly dropping it from the flash of light up to his single eye. I snatched the device from his stunned hands, flinching as he turned to look at me. 

“Hey kid, give that back,” he said in a low, threatening tone, scaring me and sending a fake, obviously terrified smile to my face. 

“No can do buckaroo, this is mine;” I replied before turning on my heels and darting back into the crowd that was growing by the minute. 

I didn’t even turn to look back, I just kept stumbling my way through bystanders, slipping into a backstreet and finally slowing my pace. I looked at my screen, which was unfortunately cracked from the incident, silently cursing myself for not having a better case on it. 

“Aw c’mon, really?” I sighed, annoyed by the state of my one and only means of contact with home. I stuffed the device before exiting the alley, not eager to see what awaited me if I stayed in there for longer than necessary. 

I jogged down the street for good measure before finally slowing my pace and letting out lengthy breaths. 

“Damn, I really need to get into better shape…” I said to myself, noting how I hadn’t even traveled that far and I was already out of breath. I couldn’t afford to do any more time wasting, already noting how high in the sky the sun was. Shoving my hands into my pockets, I tightly wrapped my hand around my phone, not eager to lose it again. 

I continued on for quite some time, taking note of street names I passed, searching for the one that would lead me to the restaurant. After a few more minutes of walking, I finally found a sign that seemed familiar enough. ‘Hippogriff Lane’ it read. I thought back to what street the application told me to look out for, and this one seemed to fit that memory well enough. I headed down the street, shuffling past the occasional person before reaching the end and letting out a breath I hadn’t noticed I had been holding. I saw a sign, advertising hot pizza, as well as other Boiling Isle specialties. Some of the items listed on the sign sounded decent while others sent a shudder down my spine just thinking about them. 

I followed in the direction the sign was pointing before reaching a building, roughly the size of the Owl House, with glowing neon letters above it. The faint aroma of pizza hung in the air, reminding Luz of home. 

This was definitely the place.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hi yeah so time for her first day I guess. Sorry if the writing is a lil wonky, my last two braincells are firing on an Aang and Sokka level rn, so if that's any indication as to my mental state, I'm sorry. Anyway, the dialogue might be funky and for that I truly apologize but I am in fact lazy as hell soooooooo byeeeeeee enjoy :)

\------

The nerves hummed in my body, running from my heart to my fingertips. I had no idea why, but the thought of starting a new job in such a foreign place sent a cold shiver down my spine that was not helped by the autumn air biting at my skin. I stared at the large neon sign that seemed to shine brighter than the sun, despite the fact that it was mid day and there wasn’t a cloud in sight. It read in obnoxious orange and red colors “Boiling Isle Pizzaria.”

“Jeez, how’d they get that so bright?” I said to no one in particular, feeling another cool breeze bite against my ears, reminding me I had to go inside.

I pulled my green denim jacket close around my arms and made my way inside, warmth, presumably from the ovens, blasting me in the face as I did. What greeted me once I stepped in fully were the smells of baking bread and melted cheese, instantly causing me to salivate. My eyes quickly scanned around the restaurant, taking in the dull chatter of customers and workers alike. In one corner, a girl stood at a table, wearing clothes with a color scheme matching that of the sign outside. She had close cropped green hair, half pulled up in a ponytail. She seemed to be chatting with a gaggle of teenage girls around my age, half of whom were on their scrolls. My eyes lingered on her for far longer than I anticipated. That's when a small ding and a high pitched voice pulled me from my thoughts. 

“Hello! Welcome to- ahhhh” A shorter girl with glasses greeted me from the behind the counter, but as she spoke I could see her lose her balance, leaving me helpless as I watched her fall, sending ingredients scattered across the floor. 

“Oh aw, did you trip and fall again?” Said the green haired girl from across the store, broom already in hand. Behind her came a chorus of giggles from witches with varying hair colors. 

I was already half way into the store, jogging over to the girl on the floor who was now covered in sauce with bits of cheese and pepperoni clinging to her uniform. 

“Hey, let me help!” I said, bounding over, careful enough not to slip on the ingredients sprawled across the floor. The girl smiled, taking her glasses from her face and wiping the red from them. 

“Thanks, but that’s okay, you should just have a seat and wait to be served, I’ll be with you in a minute,” the girl let out a nervous chuckle, reaching for a dustpan from under the counter, but I stooped down, grabbing it before she had the chance. She looked at me quizzically for a second before putting her glasses back on and sighing with a timid smile. 

“Really, let me help, I mean it’s not like I’m a customer,” I said, a warm smile crossing my face as I began to sweep up cheese and pepperoni. I guess she didn’t register what I meant, as she paused once more, her eyebrows furrowed in confusion. 

“Oh sorry, I just mean, I work here, or at least I’m starting today, I think, uhhh,” I started to speak, the words just tumbling from my mouth as I tried to get a grasp on what it was I was doing there. She let out a little chuckle, nodding slightly as she understood what I meant. 

“Yeah that’s right, someone said there was a new person starting today, go on and head back,” i opened my mouth to protest, but she kept going before I had the chance to.   
“I’ll clean this up, I’ve done it plenty of times before, don’t worry about it!” she said, cheery demeanor lighting up her face as she spoke, taking the dustpan from my reluctant hands.

I stood back up, watching as she drew a small circle in her hands. A little vine snaked from her pocket, grasping the dustpan with it’s small green tendril. The girl held the broom with her hand, scooping the spilled ingredients into the pan, kicking up small clouds of flour as she did. She coughed a couple of times, and with her free hand drew another circle, this time summoning a stem from the pre-existing vine. This one wound it’s way up the counter, grabbing a cloth from a shelf and slowly began mopping up the sauce that stained the floor. 

I gave her a curt nod, seeing that she clearly had the situation handled. I moved to head to the back, but stopped myself.

“I’m Luz, Luz Noceda,” I stated in a warm tone, causing the girl to look up from her spot on the floor. She smiled. 

“I’m Willow,” she replied, cheery smile ever so present on her face. I extended my arm down before realizing she was occupied. I retracted it awkwardly before carefully stepping around her, instead opting for a small wave and a wink.

“Guess I’ll be seeing you around Willow!” I said, before slipping past and heading to the back. I walked past a few witches and demons doing various tasks around the kitchen. 

The warmth I felt when I first walked in was nothing compared to the heat of the kitchen now, and I had to peel off my large jacket to keep from sweating. Finally I reached the back, where a sign prominently stated ‘Manager’s Office’. The door was slightly open, so I slowly opened it and made my way inside. Seated at the desk was a tall woman, seemingly around the same age as Eda, maybe a few years younger. She had stark raven hair, slim features, and sharp, intimidating eyes. If I wasn’t sweating before, I sure was now as her eyes snapped up from a document to me. 

“And who are you?” she didn’t exactly ask, rather demanded. I could feel the heat creeping up the back of my neck as a nervous blush grew across my face. 

“L-Luz… uhh Noceda!” the words came out as a mixture of uncertainty and terror. The woman’s expression was impossible to read, which only made my heart beat faster as my nerves took over. I opened my mouth slightly as if to say something, but was met with a cold stare, instantly telling me to shut up. 

“Miss Noceda, that’s right, the new employee,” she paused “you’re… not what I expected.” That statement made my hairs stand up, watching as her eyes flicked up to my ears then back down to her document. I opened my mouth once more, this time steeling my nerves and clearing my throat.

“R-right, I’m starting today,” I mentally kicked myself for stuttering, taking a gulp of air as her gaze returned to me. 

“Sign here,” she slid a paper across her desk and pointed to a dotted line with a scarily pointed finger, the nails almost fashioned into blades. 

Everything about the woman seated before me terrified me. 

I took a seat in front of the desk and reached for a pen, grabbing a gnarled piece of wood that resembled that of a pen. I signed my name, watching as it glowed blue for a second before fading to its normal color. 

“Uhh, my uniform-”

“Next door, in the break room. It’ll be in the open locker. Once you get changed, have Amity show you around.”

“Who?” instead of receiving an answer, she simply pointed out her door with a deadly finger, not even looking up from her papers as she did. I took the hint and stood up.

As soon as I stepped out of the room, I felt the door close behind me, and I heard the latch click. I let out a sigh and started down the hall. 

It wasn’t but a few feet before I found myself facing the breakroom, and just as she told me there was an open locker, uniform neatly folded inside. Atop the fresh clothes was a nametag, glinting ever so slightly in light. 

The shirt wasn’t anything I was particularly used to back home, however the top did resemble a fast food worker’s uniform, mixed with casual witch fashion. The base of the shirt was a wine red, with an orange trim, and black stitching. The colors were faded from use, not particularly bright while not entirely dull. The pants were simple black slacks, adding a dark contrast to the uniform. 

I picked up the clothing and ducked into a small alcove in the room. I changed from my dust-covered shirt and jeans into the clean, albeit faded uniform. The shirt fit comfortably, hanging slightly loose on my lanky frame. Placing my jacket and clothes in the empty metal cage, I took a deep breath. It felt like home, for the first time in about a month, I wasn’t in a magical land, I was on good ole mundane Earth. That moment didn’t last too long, of course, because as soon as I turned around there was the green haired witch from before, standing in the doorway. 

The expression on the girl’s face was still, almost annoyed, causing me to awkwardly smile and bring my hand up in a small wave. She just rolled her eyes and stood there, expectantly. My eyes wandered down to her name tag, the name ‘Amity Blight’ typed in a neat font present on the white plastic. 

“Hi um, I think you’re supposed to be showing me around,” I extended my arm in a peaceful fashion. Instead of shaking my hand, she looked at my ears and scoffed, causing me to falter. 

“Wow, they really will hire anyone now, won’t they.” She said in a flat, yet sarcastic tone. I watched as she turned on her heels and started out the door. 

“Hey, w-wait up!” I called after, hurrying out the door behind her. I nearly knocked her over as I crashed around the corner, not expecting her to be right there. Amity let out a low sound, akin to a growl. She grit her teeth and steadied herself on the wall, shooting a death glare at me as she dusted herself off. My eyes grew wide and I had yet another awkward smile plastered on my face, a nervous chuckle rising in my throat. I could feel heat emanating from her eyes. 

“Sorry!” I squeaked out. My first day really was turning into a disaster. 

“Whatever, just don’t do it again,” the green haired girl replied, already on her feet and moving. 

My eyes shifted to the floor as I trailed behind her, careful not to step to close. Amity ran me through the different stations, and to whatever questions I had, she gave curt, one word answers. 

I started to drum my fingers with boredom as the ‘tour’ progressed, stopping once Amity turned the corner to point at a supply closet. 

“So, now that that’s over, here’s your job,” She said, jabbing her finger towards the closet. I stared quizzically, causing her to roll her eyes.

“You’ll be cleaning dumbass, get the broom, sweep up anything that clutz left behind, and once you're done, pick up trash from the tables and clean them. You got it or do I need to write it down so you don’t forget.” Amity said, the sarcasm in her voice reaching a palpable limit. I nodded slowly, afraid to say anything more. She turned on her heels and went back to whatever it was she had been doing. 

I was left alone, standing in the entryway of a dusty closet. A small smile tugged at the corners of my lips. Sure, that girl had been totally rude to me, but that didn’t matter because now I had something to do, something I definitely couldn’t screw up. Sweeping was no big deal, Eda had me do it all the time at her stand, but this time I was getting paid. 

Refusing to let Amity’s sour mood get me down, I grabbed a broom from off of the wall and stepped out, ready to take on the job. 

Turns out the brain can’t run on optimism for prolonged periods of time.

I was sweaty, sore, and bored out of my mind. It had only been a couple of hours since I started and I was already starting to count down the minutes. I was a glorified janitor, nothing more. Willow’s bright smiles from behind the register did help, they reminded me to keep my head up, but even then, I felt the monotony of a single day seeping into my brain, killing all the fun I had been imagining. 

Amity’s voice was drilled into my brain. Sweep this, clean that, polish this, it was all so… boring.

The only exciting thing was when I nearly dropped a stack of plates I had been holding, but even then, I managed to regain my balance somehow and just went on taking them back. I couldn’t even talk with the customers, because everytime I tried to spark up a conversation, the green haired witch would shoot me a look to tell me to do my job. I had to run out of things to do eventually, right?

Finally my prayers had been answered when the rush of people coming in slowed, the sun dipping low beyond the horizon. I thought it’d be busier at night, but thankfully I was wrong. 

The steady stream of customers had come to the occasional patron coming in and sitting in one of the now empty seats. Willow’s work at the counter became more waiting than taking food out, and my jealousy began to slowly encroach on my brain. I was still busy, of course, but the number of tasks I had to do were now dwindling, and I could tell that Amity had started to run out of things to order me to do, that was, until she noticed a patron had left a stack of dishes at his table once he left. She gestured towards it with her head, letting me know that was a task for me. 

I leaned my broom against the counter, making my way towards the stack of dishes left for me. As I drew near, the first thing I noticed was the smell. It wasn’t anything like I could smell in the kitchen, nor anywhere else in the restaurant. I shook my head, mentally plugging my nose. I stood in front of the stack, bracing myself for whatever I’d uncover. 

I was relieved when I first picked up the stack, a nervous chuckle escaping my throat. I wasn’t clear yet, because as soon I started to move towards the kitchen, something oozed from between the sandwiched plates, spilling all over my hand and sending a grotesque image through my mind. I shrieked, which was probably the worst possible reactions I could have, or it could have been if I hadn’t immediately dropped the stack, sending shards of ceramic across the floor in every direction. Slop covered my hands, but I refused to think about what it could have been. 

Then, I heard the heavy footfalls of boots behind me and a cold shiver went up my spine. Amity was directly behind me. Before I could even turn around, I heard an angry huff, causing me to tense up.

“Hi… Amity…” I said slowly, the sticky substance still coating my hand. I felt her hand on my arm, pulling me behind the counter and out of the sight of customers.

“What the hell was that Noceda? It’s a simple task, you’ve been doing it all day,” She yelled in a low voice so as to not disturb the other guests.

“You know what, what am I even saying, of course you messed up something so simple, you’re a human, I mean, what the hell was Lillith thinking when she hired you.” Amity’s face was a crimson red, her eyebrows furrowed. I heard her curse under her breath and breathe out, clearly trying to hold her composure. 

Tears pricked at my eyes as she jabbed a finger into my chest, scowling hard. She got so close that I could see exactly how winged her eyeliner was. The answer was very winged indeed.

“If you ever do that again, I will not hesitate to go to Ms. Clawthorne and tell her exactly what you did so- hey!” I put my hand up, stopping her mid sentence. The offended look that took over her face was almost enough to stop me before I said anything, but I pressed on.

“What is all over my hand?” I asked, showing her the mess that covered it. To that, she swatted it away, holding back another slew of curses. 

“I don’t care, wash it off and get out there and clean up that mess you made.” 

My face was red as she pushed off of me, pushing me slightly backwards and she went back to work. Making my way to the sink, I washed off the disgusting slop that coated my hand and had now begun to harden. I gagged as I rinsed it off, the stench mixed with the oddly chunky consistency was worse than anything Eda had managed to cultivate in her fridge. 

Finally, once I scrubbed my hand thoroughly, I returned to the scene of the crime, grabbing the broom off the wall. I dejectedly sweeped up the broken plates, making a note to grab the mop for whatever it was that was left on the plate, that was now splashed across the floor. Every once in a while, I’d catch Amity’s disappointed expression making sure I kept at work. Willow gave me a sympathetic look from across the counter, clearly sharing in the pain I felt. 

Getting yelled at hurt, a lot, but it wasn’t the same way I’d been yelled at in the past. She wasn’t even disappointed, she already had this clear picture of what a failure a human would be. It felt as though she knew it was only a matter of time before I fucked up, and I did. I probably played right into what she thought humans were like, and honestly I couldn’t even blame her. 

I was sat, in the centre of a dwindling pizza shop, sweeping up parts of a failed task, on the verge of tears. This was not how I imagined my first day going. 

Once all of the shards of plate were picked up, I dumped them into a trash can with a clink and went to grab the mop before being stopped by Willow.

“Hey uh, don’t let her get to you, she’s like that with everyone, but you get used to it,” She said sadly, giving me a quivering smile. I tried my best for one as well, but all I could muster was a small nod and a thank you. 

After returning with the mop, I noticed that the rest of the spill had been cleaned. There wasn’t a spot left on the ground, almost as if nothing had ever happened in the first place. I stopped the little wheeled cart in front of where I thought it had been before swiveling my head around the now empty store. I spotted a little goopy figure with what seemed to be the rest of the mess semi buried into it’s little body before it disappeared into a small purple circle in the floor. 

I smiled slightly, unsure as to the origins of the small clay figure, but gratified it was there in the first place. 

Finally, the clock ran out, letting me know my eventful first day was finally over. Willow and I made our way back to the breakroom, along with a few other employees I hadn’t met yet. We all changed, stuffing our work clothes back into the locker before retreating back to the front, ready to clock out. 

I pulled my green coat around my form, the brisk wind hitting my face as soon as the door opened. Amity was left in the restaurant, presumably to lock up and talk to Lilith, but I paid it no mind, because all I could think about was getting home and off of my feet. 

I was making my way down the street before something came back into mind. I thought back to Amity’s scolding. ‘Ms. Clawthorne’ …

“Eda?” 

Did she know Lilith? Were they related? Questions popped into my head as I strolled home, this time without hassle. 

The phone in my pocket buzzed with a message. It still baffled me that I could get service in the Isle, but at this point I refused to question how it worked. 

“Hola mija, how was your first day?” 

A smile landed on my face, making me forget about all the bad stuff for a second.

“Un poco loco y’know. Met some new people, maybe made a friend, the works. There was this real chica ruda but other than that it was pretty good!” As I typed out the words, I had to remind myself that she didn’t know I was in the Boiling Isle, rather she believed I was at college, learning, making the world better and whatnot. 

Part of me was pained at the thought of lying to my own mother, but I found comfort in the fact that this was a once in a lifetime opportunity, and there was no way I was going to pass up a chance like this. 

I saw the telltale dots of someone typing before they disappeared, causing me to sigh. Shoving my phone back into my pocket, I began to make my way back home, my thoughts drifting to the events of the day. 

I made a mental promise not to make anymore mistakes, and to definitely avoid pissing off Blight. 

It took a while, but I finally reached the Owl House, and heard the familiar yet grating voice of one bird tube. 

“Heeeeey Luz~” he started, before I waved my hand and continued inside. 

“Not now Hooty, I need sleep, and fast,” continuing past the demon, I made my way to the kitchen, forcing yet another sandwich out and scarfing it down before dragging myself up the stairs. I waved goodnight to Eda who was still in her nest and pushed open the door to my room, collapsing on the makeshift bed. 

I didn’t even bother to take off my shoes, as that was yet another problem for future Luz. For now, sleep was the most important thing on my mind.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wowwwww you stuck through it! just a heads up, I'll be posting as possible as often, but between school and being a senior it might be difficult, hasta luego motherfuckers


	3. Laundry

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This is my Pizza AU and I get to decide how much of a bitch Amity is. We still love her thooo

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wowie, another chapter so soon? What am I, consistent? Anyway, as you can see I'm going to start titling chapters maybe, so that's fun. Also I'm sorry if Eda and King's dialogues are a little off, or any of the dialogue for that matter, I'm still trying to get into how they would talk and it's hard when your brain don't work. Anyway, enjoy!!

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Morning, again.

The excitement from yesterday still pricked at my skin, but this time a slow building of dread crept in behind it. Being yelled at certainly wasn’t a fun experience, especially from someone you were supposed to get along with. Yesterday still sat fresh in my mind, but instead I chose to push that thought away, ignoring the tears that had threatened to fall the night before. Sure, I had been insulted before, but something about the way Blight said the word ‘human’ felt like venom, like it burnt her just to say. 

I shook that thought from my mind. It was just bad luck. Anyone could have picked up that plate, even little miss perfect. She was so snarky, which is understandable, I mean, witches have magic, what exactly do I have? Round ears? A can do attitude? None of those even came close to what a powerful witch could do, so of course she’d be snarky, I probably would too. Wait no, I wouldn’t. I’m Luz Noceda, witch apprentice. I don’t care what she thinks. I’m sure if I tried hard enough, I could even befriend such a stone cold girl. 

I smiled, a new mission in mind, the events of yesterday a distant past. 

I stood straight up, stretching as I did. I must have kicked my shoes off at some point during the night, seeing as how they were on the floor at the foot of my bed. King was nowhere to be seen, presumably having learned his lesson about my alarm.

I stretched, feeling my limbs recover from the soreness that plagued them before. Thankfully I didn’t need to be in quite as early as I had the day before, so I had some time to kill. The sun that had previously been beating through my blinds was now tolerable, and rather than blinding me as soon as I opened my eyes, it just made everything blurry.

My clothes from the day prior were still on, now wrinkled and unwearable. They, and the human in them, were now quite ripe. I was in urgent need of a shower, and that thought came to the forefront of my mind the more I woke up. Maybe that was the reason King hadn’t slept with me last night?

I shrugged that off and made my way to the bathroom, grabbing a fresh set of clothes as I left. Clicking the door shut, I ran the water and got ready to finally feel clean after what felt like an eternity.

I emerged about half an hour later, fresh clothes dotted with water droplets from my hair. Sure, it was short hair, but it seemed to soak up water like a sponge. I ran a still pruney hand through my freshly washed hair in a last ditch effort to shake any water left from my hair, sending more droplets of water cascading down and across my shirt. I draped my towel over my shoulder and held my dirty clothes balled up in my hands. Once I got back into my room, I awkwardly tossed the clothes onto the floor by the others in need of a wash. Some were stained purple from experiments with potions, others singed from failed glyphs. The new clothes that slumped onto the floor broke the tie though, and I figured I needed to sort out the pile before it began to fester. 

I picked the sloppy mess of clothes from the floor, and with the towel still on my shoulder, I carried it into the still humid bathroom. I dropped the clothes into the tub, and drew the water once more. I retrieved a few more articles from my room and began to scrub. 

At least I was getting practice for work while I was at the house, but before I knew it, a familiar head poked into the doorway of the bathroom. 

“Heya kiddo, I didn’t hear you come in last night, I almost thought you’d been eaten.” The slightly raspy voice of my mentor was barely audible over the running water, causing me to shut off the tap to carry a conversation. 

“Yeah uh, it was late and I didn’t want to wake you,” I responded, arms covered in soap and water. I continued to scrub the stains from my clothes as Eda stood there, arms now crossed. King scampered past, blanket in paw. I heard a door close and a squeak as I could tell he was now in my room, presumably curled up on my bed.

“Well, not that I care, but how was your first day,” Eda said after a while, shifting on her feet and trying to seem more aloof than she was. A small smile rested on my lips.

“Oh y’know, met my coworkers, chatted, got yelled at, the works.” An idea forming in my head. I thought back to my boss and her name, a new, sly smile replacing the warm one that had been there. 

“My boss, Lilith, seems like a hardass though, what with her cold stare and straight black hair,” I continued on, watching the elder witch’s face for any indication of recognition. Sure enough, her eyes widened just enough to let me know that she knew who I was talking about. 

She cleared her throat, obviously made uncomfortable at the mention of the woman with the same last name. The sly smile grew as I noticed this.

“Well, sounds interesting, have fun,” Eda said after a pause, obviously made uncomfortable by the mention of this possible relative.

Apparently she did not have any interest in talking about my new boss, which was understandable, I wasn’t going to press the subject further. 

Once I felt that my clothes were sufficiently cleaned, I hung them up on the curtain rod, the water dripping back into the tub. The hem of my shirt was soaked with water, but that wouldn’t matter so long as it dried by the time I left for work.

After hanging my damp clothes, I made my way downstairs. My stomach growled as I did, reminding me that I barely ate anything yesterday. There was a clatter from the kitchen, spiking my curiosity. I peeked my head around the corner to find Owlbert, off of the staff and flying around, covered in some sort of white powder. I rushed over to him to find more of it covering the floor. 

Shaking my head, I picked the broom off of the wall and began to sweep it up. Once it was in a neat-ish pile, I picked up the bag and read it. 

“Titan’s Breath… huh, sounds weird.” I discarded the bag onto the counter and went back to cleaning up the mess on the floor. I was getting severe deja vu to the pizza place, and cleaning up the fallen plates. 

Once the remaining powder was cleaned up, I picked up Owlbert and dusted him off, sending the fine powder sprinkling to the previously cleaned floor. I shook my head and set the little owl down on the counter, his little wings flapping happily as I did. He hopped around a few times before taking off to another corner of the house. My stomach growled once again, reminding me of the real reason I was stood in the kitchen. I scanned the shelves for a quick snack, but couldn’t find anything particularly appetizing. There was an assortment of ingredients dotting the shelves, as well as potions and questionably edible snacks. 

Continuing my search, I scanned the fridge to no avail. I’d probably have to go grocery shopping sometime soon, but not today. Today I didn’t feel like doing anything extraneous. Instead, I grabbed my coat and slipped my shoes on. 

“Eda, I’m heading out now, bye!” I called upstairs to hear a thud followed by a slew of curses. 

“Alright kid, have fun or whatever,” she called back, followed by another crash. 

I shook my head and smiled, heading out the door. 

I figured getting to the restaurant wouldn’t hurt, maybe I could try something off of the menu if I did. I rummaged around my jacket for some snails, mentally fistbumping as my hand hit the coinpurse I kept my money in. In my other pocket, I felt my phone buzz, sending my free hand to that pocket. I glanced at the screen, catching the yellow of an emoji out of the corner of my eye. I smiled to myself and slid my phone back into my pocket, casting my gaze upward to take in the cool of the day.

I arrived at the pizza place after an uneventful walk, feeling the warmth of the store once again as I opened the door. The ding of the front bell greeted me, as did the unfamiliar faces of the patrons. Demons and witches of many varieties were seated across the restaurant, eagerly awaiting their food. 

I slid into a booth and lifted the menu, scanning it over for the pizza options. Finally, my eyes landed on the perfect food combination. I recognized some of the magical ingredients, however I was mostly focused on the prospect of eating pizza for the first time in about a month. Practically salivating, I set the menu down and closed my eyes, listening for footfalls to let me know it was time to order. After about a minute, I heard them, but instantly recognized who it was from the boots. 

Amity. Great. 

I opened my eyes to her looking down at her notepad. 

“Hi, welcome to Boiling Isle Pizza, how may I- oh, it’s you, the human,” She said, eyes flitting over my outfit, obvious judgement on her face. 

“Anyway, what can I get started for you?” She resumed her script, pulling a pen out of her apron and getting ready to write down what I wanted. 

I told her my order, which was one Bonesborough pizza, extra cheese, and a glass of water. The witch jotted down the order and took off, obviously not interested in standing around and chatting for longer than was required. 

Once again, I was left in the booth alone, but I wasn’t bored. I was watching the people walk in and out, the families chatting and arguing, and the lone patron nodding to the staff in an understood agreement about their orders. It really was just like home, well, as close to home as a room full of demons could get. 

Before I knew it, Amity was back at my table, piping hot pizza in one hand, and a cold glass of water in the other. I shot her the warmest smile I could muster as the food was set in front of me, earning a half scowl from the green haired girl. 

“Enjoy your food… or don’t I dont care.” Just like that, she was gone again. 

The food was amazing, no, more than amazing. It was spectacular. It was one of the first foods on the Isle that I could take a bite of and willingly take another. The cheese oozed from the crust, a pull unlike any other pizza I had at home. The sauce wasn’t quite the same, however that made it better, as it seemed to be infused with magic. The crust had a soft crunch to it as I sank my teeth in, creating heaven in a bite. The toppings weren’t bad either, and even though I couldn’t pronounce any of them, they reminded me of various meats stacked into one. Small, onion-like chunks dotted the top, baked to a golden perfection. Everything about this was perfection, and with each bite I wanted more, but unfortunately it was gone before I knew it. Instantly I was reminded of my mom telling me to savor my food. Never had I missed something as much as I missed that pizza, even my own home. The pizza was my home now, it was my happy place. The pizza was what I needed most, not Eda, not my mother, and certainly not a life. Pizza was all. 

Well, it was until about ten seconds later when my phone buzzed once more, an alarm going off that reminded me that I needed to work. 

I sat back and finished sipping on my water, letting the food I had just eaten settle in my stomach. A satisfied wave took over my body, leaving me in total bliss. 

Then came a jab at my shoulder. 

“Gah!” I yelped, startled from my small daydream. Amity stood there once more, a confused and almost concerned look on her face. A hand was waved in front of my face, and when she stopped, I could see the black nail polish. 

“Geez, you don’t have to poke a girl to get her attention, you could just y’know, use your words?” I said, slight annoyance in my tone.

“I did, multiple times, now come on, you’ve got a job to do.”

She was already walking away before she stopped, pointing to the plates on my table.

“You can start by picking those up and taking them back.” Now she was headed back, her green hair bouncing up and down as she went. I sighed, stacking the dishes from my table and carrying them back to the kitchen. 

I stumbled past a few of the staff, bumping into a few cooks, earning some glares. I dropped the dishes in the sink, sending the washer a little smile as an apology for adding onto the stack they already had in front of them. Once done, I made my way to the break room where Amity was seated, and I fished a few snails from my pocket. I set them down in front of her, causing her to look up from her scroll with a quizzical expression. 

“For the food, I forgot to pay up there so… I guess you’ll know where this goes.” 

“Oh uh,” the girl paused, clearly caught off guard. 

“I think you overpaid-” for once, her tone wasn’t condescending, merely confused. 

I cut her off before she could finish. “Don’t worry about it!” I said cheerfully, already at my locker. I turned to my clothes, which were strangely clean. I looked at the starched uniform, slowly realizing why we left them here each night. I glanced back at Amity, who was still scrolling through her scroll, but every once in a while would look up and at me. I opened my mouth to say something but ignored the thought and pulled my clothes from my locker. I took off my jacket and hung it in the small space. I pulled my phone from the pocket and set in it the empty space below, turning to the small changing room and slipping inside. 

Once I was changed, I stepped out. The room was now empty, both Amity and the money gone from the table. The name tag was now fixed to the front of my shirt, and I adjusted it slightly to make sure it was straight. Dropping my clothes off in my small locker and grabbing my phone, I punched in and went to work. I grabbed the cloth and spray from the storage closet and went to the booth I had previously been seated at, making sure it was cleaned and fit for the next customer. Spotting another dirty table, I stuffed the rag into my back pocket and hooked the bottle onto one of the empty belt loops on my pants. 

Willow came in some time after me, earning a confused look from me and a disappointed one from Amity. I had been putting away supplies as Amity supervised when Willow came through the employee entrance, quite late for work. Her hair was tousled with dirt and various leaves sticking out from them. Her coat was covered in the same mess that was on her head, and her glasses sat crooked on her face. The look on her face was a mix between shame and anger, however the anger was hidden well. 

I moved to console her and ask what happened, but Amity was faster, shooting me a cold look that instantly told me to get back to work. I’d save my questions for later. The two of them stepped into the break room, and I could hear the harsh whisper of the green haired girl rising slightly above the ambient noise of the kitchen. Willow’s softer, apologetic tone was barely audible, and after a few minutes the two of them reappeared, Willow now donning her uniform. Her hair was fixed, though the look on her face was only worse. Her face instantly changed when she crossed the threshold to the visible part of the restaurant, a fake smile obviously plastered over to hide her old expression. 

I resumed my job, but made a point to grab the broom from the closet. I was determined to find out what happened. Turns out I didn’t have to wait long, as Willow stormed into the back, red face with anger. Amity stood in front of her, waiting for an explanation. 

“I’m not serving them, it’s your group, you take them.” I could hear, sweeping closer to them to catch the rest of their conversation. 

“What’s the problem, they’re just here to eat, same as everyone else,” I heard, obviously from Amity.

“Well they-”

“They what? Want to be served? Are waiting on a hostess to take their order?” 

“They just-” Willow’s voice lowered, “nothing.”

Just like that, Willow turned back around, feigned smile back on her face and more pained than ever. She made her way back to the front, and I saw her walk to the front, heading over to the same group of girls Amity had been chatting with yesterday. 

I turned my attention back to Amity just in time to see her roll her eyes in a smug expression, pulling her scroll from her pocket and sending a quick text. The table full of teenagers giggled, and I could only assume the two were related. 

The rest of the day went by the same as the last, and through the day I only had a few chances to talk to Willow. On one such occasion, I managed to worm the truth from the blue haired witch.

It took a lot of convincing, but she finally gave in detailing the events that led up to her being late. Turns out, it did in fact have to do with the group of girls whom she almost refused to serve. Boscha, the pink haired girl, had apparently stopped Willow on her way into work and harassed her, pushing her around and ultimately cornered her for a while, explaining the dirt and leaves stuck to her. The whole situation made me sympathetic, and I thought back to my time back on Earth, where I went through the same humiliation, though it never involved levitation and binding spells. 

Being weird was par for the course for me, but I couldn’t imagine how bad Willow had it. It puzzled me thought, the idea that someone could possibly wish to cause such a sweet person harm, though I supposed it might have something to do with the inherent magic of the realm. 

I had been through some stuff back home, humiliation, harassment, and eventual social exile, and I felt Willow’s pain. All that did was make me upset, but never angry. Sad people did sad things, so I could only assume that’s why Boscha and her crew were so hard on Willow. 

Finally, the clock ran out on the day and once again, I was sent home. I changed and got ready to leave, halfway out the door before I realized I had left my phone in my work pants. I jogged back to the locker room to find Amity with all of our uniforms piled into her arms. Pinched gingerly within two fingers was my phone, and she set it down in the metal cage of my locker. I brushed past her, quickly grabbing it. I gently knocked into her, causing her to back up with a barely audible yelp.

“Sorry! I left this behind,” I said awkwardly, holding up the phone triumphantly before turning and heading out the door.

Now I was free, heading back down the path that would eventually lead me home. It wasn’t long before and idea began to form in my head. I started to work out the idea to the air.

“If I get cell reception in the isle, and witches can text from scrolls, does that mean they have magic cell towers? No, that doesn’t make sense, I can’t get internet here, but they can scroll through apps unless… AHA! I GOT IT! Magic.” My idea fell flat at the end, the traction I had been building up falling short to a simple, one word explanation, or rather, the entire lack thereof. 

The thoughts kept brewing in my head all the while I walked home, always leading to the same, excitingly mundane answer. 

I bounded into Eda’s room, and to my surprise she was still awake. Excited to test out my complete absence of a theory, I kicked off my shoes and hung off the edge of her nest, earning a groan and a weary look from my mentor. 

“Look kid- ugh, you smell like clean dirt, how is that even possible?” Her nose wrinkled in disgust, and she waved her hand as though she were clearing the air of the smell. Instead, she summoned a clothes pin to pinch her nose, before returning her attention to me and nodding for me to explain why I had just jumped into her bed. The thoughts from my head came tumbling out, a word jumbled or two barely connecting to create coherent sentences. After what seemed like no time, my word vomit came to a close with one final question.

“Do you have a scroll?” Eda practically fell over in a fit of snorts. 

“Haha, kid you think I’d have one of those brainwashing devices? No way! Everyone with half a brain knows that those things are just to make you easier to control, no way am I gonna have one of those, I like my brain nice and intact in my skull thank you.” She knocked on her head to let me know it was still in there, hypothetically. The disappointment was clear on my face, and no doubt did it throw a small, or large, wrench into my plans. I got up, dejected, and made my way back to my room before Eda cleared her throat, causing me to stop.

“Listen, kid, that whole ‘cell phone’ thingy might be best left alone for now, but if you’d like to buy a scroll, I’d maybe be willing to pitch in,” She said, her tone surprisingly soft for such a hardened witch. I sent her a small, but appreciative smile and grabbed my shoes, finally in my room and home for the night. King was already curled up and snoring, so I quietly set my stuff down and got changed. 

I fell flat into bed and just like that, I couldn’t fall asleep.


	4. Potions

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> oooh what's this? a time jump? how funnnn

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This took quite some time to write, but I'm kinda proud of it. There's a bunch more dialogue in this chapter, as well as teens being teens, so be warned I guess?? Also warning, apparently Luz doesn't know how to stay upright.
> 
> Also I have an art/fic account now so if you'd like to follow that, it's @anoo_oof (instagram)

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It had been three weeks, and still no progress with Amity, or Ms. Clawthorne for that fact. 

I wasn’t scheduled to go in today, yet there I was, seated in the shop that had begun to shift itself into the centre of my life. Willow was seated across from me, also off from work. She held her menu in her hands, pretending to read to pass the time. I watched her eyes flick up from time to time, though I wasn’t quite sure what she had been looking at. 

Willow had agreed to show me around the city some more, so we decided to meet at the pizzeria, as that was a good central location. Finally, I saw her hand shoot up in a wave, and this time I tracked where her eyes were looking. Standing in the front of the shop was a shorter guy, with tall hair and shaved designs. He seemed to be a year or so younger than me, and a smile grew across his face as he made eye contact with the girl seated across from me. 

“I hope you don’t mind, but I invited my friend Augustus to come with us. He’s a local.” The kid sat across from me, practically bouncing up and down. I extended my hand in a handshake, smiling warmly at the guy. 

“Hi, you must be Gus.” He looked quizzically for a second before registering the nickname.

“Yeah I’m- oh my Titan, you’re a human?” He exclaimed suddenly, his eyes fixed on my ears. I was starting to get embarrassed by the constant need to point out that I was human, but I kept my smile and retracted my hand. 

Energy seemed to take over the kid, eyes brimming with excitement. Almost as fast as he sat down, he was up again, leaning close to my face and examining me. 

“Augustus! I told you not to be weird,” Willow scolded, shooting me an apologetic look.

“I go by Gus now, and besides, you never told me she was a human!” He said, never looking up from his gaze, instead summoning a magnifying glass from a small blue circle. Willow reached across the table and gently swatted his hand down, causing a dejected look to cross his face. 

“It’s ok Gus, you can pick my brain later.” Instantly, he perked up again, now summoning weirdly toothed tweezers from thin air. A horrified look took over my face, causing me to go pale with the thought of my brain actually being picked apart. 

“No no, I just mean that you can ask me questions about being a human, that’s all, please don’t take apart my mind!” I said, hands instantly going up in a nervous surrender. 

He shrugged and sat down, the tweezers disappearing as he did. After a moment of him looking over the menu, he folded it, clearly satisfied with the item he decided on. 

We ordered, apparently having unanimously decided on the Bonesborough. Our food was brought to us in a rather quick fashion, and we all looked at our dishes, clearly ready to devour the food. 

This time, the food lasted longer than it did when I first ordered it, probably having to do with the fact that we chatted the whole way through our meals. We hopped from subject to subject, as if the conversation itself had been fueled by adhd. At some point, the restaurant had been brought up, as well as the reason as to why Willow would come in late every so often with messy hair and an obviously disheveled outfit. 

Her eyes became shifted to the table, obviously uncomfortable. She wove her fingers together as we talked, and I knew it bothered her more than she had previously let on. 

“Listen, if I have to have a word with this Boscha, then I will, she has no right to put you through any of this… this bullshit!” my sudden outburst startled everyone at the table, including myself, and I felt the anger rising up in me. Willow darted her eyes up at me, a slightly pained expression on her face. 

“Oh Luz, there's really no need to get worked up over it," she let out a nervous chuckle, "Seriously, it's no big deal, I just come in late every once in a while, not the worst thing in the world." She was quiet for a bit, and so was I. I knew she was a shy person, but I had no idea she'd almost defend her bully.

"No way, I mean, it's not right, she shouldn't just get away with it!" Anger was now fully risen in my voice, and I had to lower it in order to avoid causing a scene. The look on Gus's face told me to leave it alone, and I sat back in my seat, only just now realizing I was standing up as best as I could in the booth. Taking another bite of my pizza, I let the warm slice take my attention as a means of calming down. 

After a long and slightly awkward silence, Willow finally piped up, turning to Gus and catching him mid bite.

"So, Augustus- Gus, we haven't caught up in a while, what new projects have you been working on?" She still seemed awkward from the previous conversation, but she did her best to hide it. Instantly, Gus's ears rose, enthusiasm taking over his smaller form at the inquiry.

"So, I've been writing a lot, yeah? Well, I've been trying to write about the people of Bonesborough, but recently I've hit kind of a block in that, I mean, I'll use some of my dad's broadcasts for inspiration but it just doesn't have the same… uhhh," he stared at the ceiling for a moment, as if searching for the right words. "It just isn't the same you know? There's no personality in them, just vague details of a person, what I need is a story, a real story, with drama and action, not some stale broadcast…"

The kid kept on talking, almost getting lost in the story of writing a story, his eyes lighting up with each new detail he brought up. Willow and I just watched as he articulated wildly, practically bouncing up and down with the same enthusiasm he had at the prospect of meeting a human. 

"Well, if you need drama, I'm sure you'd find some in here, right Willow?" I piped up after he finished talking. I motioned vaguely to the restaurant, and his eyes scanned the sea of customers.

"What if… what if you sat here a few times a week, just to absorb the actual people of Bonesborough, I mean so long as you order food I'm sure no one would mind, right Willow?" She shrugged, obviously lost in her own thoughts.

Gus seemed to run the idea over in his head a few times, acting out weighing the pros and cons with his hands. After about a minute of this, his eyes lit up with the now familiar excitement. Willow chuckled to herself at this, and I smiled at this. 

It felt like we had known each for months, and the silence we soon fell into was a comfortable one, not one full of awkwardness, rather one of chewing silence. We ate the rest of the food in said silence, and once it came to settle the tab, Willow and I had a silent death match over who would pay, but neither of us even noticed when Gus slipped some snails to the waiter. 

The three of us had been wandering around town for some time, joking about this and that, and Gus continued to quiz me on trivial human knowledge. 

We wandered from stall to stall, subject to subject until we landed on a particularly strange find. 

Willow and Gus stood outside, talking about something to do with a “hexside,” whatever that was. I had just ducked into a potion shop when I turned and ran right into someone. We both landed on the floor, and when I looked up, I saw none other than Amity Blight. I scrambled up, almost knocking over the entire display as I did. As soon as I was on my feet and somewhat sturdy, I held my hand out for her to get up, but she ignored it, instead opting to get up in a much more graceful fashion than I did. She dusted herself off and straightened her back as if she never fell. 

“You really are just as clumsy outside of the restaurant..” I heard her say under her breath before turning to look at me. 

She looked very different but still nice. She had on her signature boots and black nail polish, but now she was dressed in a very casual way, which was something I had no idea was possible for the girl. She wore a loose, dark blue sweater, one side casually hanging off of her shoulder. The shirt underneath was a deep purple, almost blending in with the sweater as if it were a shadow. Her jeans were black, small, almost strategic rips dotting them. I blinked a few times as I caught myself staring, but the other girl didn’t even seem to have noticed. I felt completely opposite to her in my slightly dirty coat, wrinkled shirt, and jeans. Even my shoes had little scuff marks on them as I noticed she her entire outfit was entirely clean. 

I smiled weekly and felt my hand go to the back of my neck as a nervous sweat began to trickle down. 

“I’ve uh really got to stop doing that, sorry.” She subtly rolled her eyes and turned to her bag as it sat on the floor where she and I had fallen. As she reached down to pick it up, I noticed that under her hair was shaved, and my eyes went wide as I noticed. 

“Woah, you have an undercut?” I heard myself say, not having the sense to stop my mouth from opening. I instantly shifted my eyes to the floor, ready for whatever she was going to berate me with next. Instead, I was surprised when she simply smiled. It was a small one at that, but a smile nonetheless, which was something I had not thought was possible for her. At this point, I was pretty much convinced her face was fixed in a constant scowl. I smiled again, another small one to match hers, but it was still quite nice. After a few moments of this, I could see her catch herself and resume her semi-serious composure. As she shifted her bag on her shoulder, cleared her throat and opened her mouth. 

“Yeah, whatever.” She seemed to jump into her restaurant personality, and that meant she didn’t seem like she was much in the mood for talking. My smile fell as she turned to leave, but after a couple of paces I was behind her again, now walking, trying to keep my mouth shut. I could tell she knew I was there from the twitching of her ears each time I stepped, however she seemed to just ignore it. We were halfway down the aisle when I saw her stop and pick up a potion, and that’s when I spoke again.

“So uh, whatcha lookin for?” I asked. She yelped with the surprise of my voice coming from over her shoulder, and she almost dropped the bottle she was holding as her body jumped upright. Her back instantly went rigid and she summoned a small goop thing from a purple spell circle on the floor. The green-haired girl dropped the potion into its hands. It looked… familiar. She whirled around and right into my face, and due to how close the aisle was, it really was right in my face. 

“Listen, human, if you’re going to be in the same store as me, please make sure you’re… elsewhere, I don’t want to be blamed when you knock over a whole shelf of expensive brews just because you have the spacial awareness of a slitherbeast.” Her face was the familiar red as before, and I felt the heat rising in my cheeks as she went on. Her tone was quite harsh, yet not above a whisper. With one final scoff, she stepped back and picked the potion up from the little clay dude’s arms where it had been carefully held. I blinked, processing what she said. My mouth went open in a retort before I even noticed she was gone. Tears didn’t threaten my face as they had the previous times she yelled at me, instead I felt awkward, like I was a step away from ashamed. I knew getting into her personal bubble was too much, but I also couldn’t help myself. I wrote it off as my personal curiosity mixed with the desire to chip away at Amity’s rough exterior, but I knew deep down that there was much more behind it, waiting. 

I was still left standing in the aisle, thinking, when I heard the bell to the shoppe ding and Willow walked in, Gus following close behind. We browsed the shelves together, chatting about each of the strange potions we came across, and every once in a while I’d see the familiar green pony tail bobbing up and down, telling me to keep moving. I intended to keep out of her way for fear of another lecture, but I also didn’t want to see what she’d do to Willow if she ran across her in her time shopping. She obviously came out there alone, and even I had the sense to leave her to that, it took all my energy not to bound over and force her into conversation. I had to be slow, methodical even in my plan to befriend her, and forcing her into an awkward conversation was the last way I wanted to try. 

A few too many potions and multiple narrowly averted catastrophes later, Willow, Gus, and I walked up to the check out counter with a few bottles cradled in our arms. Just to my luck, we would up in line right behind one Amity Blight. I shifted uncomfortably behind her, and Willow looked at the floor. Both of us shared a single thought. “Don’t draw attention.” Which wouldn’t have been a problem if it weren’t for Gus, who continued on as if nothing were off. I guess he didn’t have the same experience with Amity as Willow and I, judging by the fact that a smile crept across his face. My eyes went wide as his finger went to his lips to tell us to be silent. Willow looked up just as he summoned a circle with the same finger. I only had a second to react, and I did the only thing that came to mind. 

The world practically moved in slow motion, my not so firmly planted feet sprang into action, launching me, to everyone’s surprise, directly into the back of Amity. 

Fuck.

She managed to turn just in time to face me as I crashed full force into her, and overhead the fizzle and pop of a spell going off was heard. Sparks rained down on top of me and each one sent a small shock of electricity as they hit, or at least I thought it was the sparks. I hesitantly looked down to see Amity looking at me from only a few inches below, clear shock on her face. Her hair was spread out over the floor, and her bag full of potions sat between us, pressing into my stomach. The shop was dead silent, and I was afraid to breathe. The green haired witch blinked a few times, clearly processing what happened, looking up at the final few sparks falling. My breathing hitched, and my mind was absolutely blank. A blush threatened to creep up my face, and that was when I decided to open my mouth.

“Sorry…” was the only thing that came out. The girl below me opened her mouth a few times, as if decided on whether or not to yell at me. Finally, words came out.

“Can you get up, please?” She whispered, making my eyes go wide. 

“I- oh geez,” it finally registered how truly awkward the position was and scrambled to sit up. I sat back on the floor, too lightheaded to stand up immediately. Amity scooted back and sat up herself, face now thoroughly red with embarrassment. She smoothed out her hair which had come slightly undone and was sticking up in odd angles. 

“I’m sooo sorry, it’s just, there was uhh,” I looked to Gus who had a guilt ridden expression plastered on his face. “I don’t know, something coming towards you real fast and-” I stopped to catch my breath. My head went down in another apologetic motion, eyes now fixed on the floor. I watched Amity’s boots as she stood up, and was surprised when she cleared her throat and held out a hand to help me up. Her eyes were placed elsewhere, as if the mere act of helping me up was too much to fathom, but after what just happened, I didn’t blame her. Apparently we both underestimated quite how heavy I was, as Amity almost lost her balance again in helping me up. Finally, we were both on our feet and now awkwardly looking at things other than each other. That’s when I realized that I dropped the potions I had been holding. There was a mix of blue and yellow liquid on the ground where I had been standing, and apparently some of it had splashed onto my shoes. 

“Do you know how to do anything other than fall?” A joke. Did Amity fucking Blight, the queen of mean, just make a joke? There was no malice behind her words, and suddenly I found myself laughing. I stifled it and nodded, almost enthusiastically. 

“Yep! It’s a special kind of magic only humans like me know.” I said in response, and I saw the corners of her mouth twitch in a smile. 

“Next.” Came the dull tone of the clerk, and Amity turned to check out. The expression on the clerk’s face led me to believe he hadn’t even noticed the fall, nor the shower of sparks that had rained down just a few moments prior. Almost as if nothing happened at all, Amity checked out and walked past us to leave, but just as she did, she looked back, a small smile on her face as she made eye contact with me. 

We left the shop after paying for all the potions, including the ones I broke. The sun was low, much lower than it had been when we walked into the store and we all collectively agreed we should start heading our ways. We kept walking for a bit, Gus’s previously guilty demeanor now back to it’s usual, enthusiastic way. 

We were walking down the road, hopping from topic to topic when I lightly shoved Gus and brought up crushes. The two of them were awkwardly silent at the topic of dating in the isle, but I decided to press the subject further. 

“So… Willow, you got anyone on your mind?” I rested my arm on her shoulder and leaned in, and in response I got a scoff as she adjusted her glasses. 

“Ooookay then, Gus? How about you? I’m sure you’ve got the eye of all the girls… or guys!” I hastily added the last part, not wishing to assume anything of the young man. 

“I don’t really pay attention to that kinda stuff, it’s just not my thing.” He was oddly quiet before piping up once more.

“Besides, I’ve got my flags and friends, what more do I need?” Two flags poofed into his hands, one sporting a green gradient into black and the other painted with a purple version of the ombre. 

Willow and I chuckled as he began to wave the flags around, tracing little patterns in the dimming sky with them. The three of us continued on like this the whole way until we had to split up. I waved the two of them goodbye as I began the trek back to the house I was slowly beginning to call home. 

“Today was pretty good, all things considered.” I finished recounting the day's events to King, sitting with him on the couch as Eda made us a questionable dinner in the kitchen.

“Luz, your story is so long, I just want scratchies!” the small demon whined, stretching out in my lap and exposing his tummy. I complied, watching as King stretched further the more I scratched. I was content with the little bliss he provided, and I leaned my head back as I listened to his breathing turn into snoring. 

Today really was quite good.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Seriously though, I had a blast writing this chapter, and that's probably because my impatient ass really went "but what if the gay dial just went up instead of staying at the 'enemies' level" and like I'm ok with that. I hope the pacing didn't throw any of yall off, and thanks for sticking through it, I'll get on writing chapter 5 as soon as possible!


	5. Fired up

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Badda bing badda boom, Luz does some magic n shit, idk I wrote this without the help of my single braincell.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry if the writing feels rushed or off in some places, I've been trying to write, but for the past two days I've been taking the ACT, so me brain no work good, y'know. Anyway, hope you enjoy the chapter.

\------

“Crisis averted!” I exclaimed as I precariously held a stack of plates in my hands. 

I was in the middle of the kitchen, slowly standing back up after I almost tripped over my own feet. Thankfully, none of the plates had fallen to the floor, and I was slowly getting better at stopping myself from falling. That had become was I was best known for, which wasn’t great, but thankfully I didn’t drop things all too often. Every once in a while there would be a plate or a bowl that would shatter, but sometimes, that was through no fault of my own. A couple of times it was as if I had been tripped by someone else, though that was highly unlikely as Amity paid next to no mind to me on the job, Willow was too nice, and none of the other staff talked to me enough to form an opinion. 

Besides that, I’ve been trying my best to be a model employee, taking up extra shifts when I could, as well as covering Willow’s when she was late, like this morning. I was bussing extra tables as I waited for her to show up, and the more time that passed, the more my worry grew. 

I stacked the plates in the sink, throwing a quick “Thank you,” at the dishwasher before moving onto my next task, which was cleaning the windows. I think some of the witches actually preferred having a human around to do tasks, probably because it meant they didn’t have to waste their magic on menial labor. 

Washing the windows wasn’t too bad, it meant I got to stand out in the crisp air, and I got a nice view from the front of the shop. Every once in a while I’d catch my eyes lingering on a particular witch, but I’d shake it from my thoughts and go back to watching the customers. 

When Gus came in before Willow, I got rather worried, but couldn’t do much about it without actually abandoning the jobs I had now taken over for my missing coworker. I scrubbed a little harder than before as I thought about what Boscha could be doing to Willow, anger threatening to boil over in my mind. Scenario after scenario flashed in my mind, and it occurred to me that I had never had a friend that I worried about to this degree. Back home, barely anyone would talk to me by the end of my senior year, and that was part of the reason I took so well to the idea of living on the isle. People here liked me, more or less, and even if it was because I was an oddity, it felt nice. Plus, I was learning about something that I had always thought was just a part of my childhood imagination, but was in fact real. 

As time went on, a deep chill set into my bones. I took longer than usual while I was cleaning the windows, and that was mostly due to the fact that I was hoping to catch Willow on her way in. The chill, however, was slowly creeping to the forefront of my thoughts, and I had to step inside. The closest person I could see was Amity, and I knew that since she regularly took orders, she had to have her notepad with her. I made my way over to her and asked to borrow it for a quick sec. She looked at me clearly confused and somewhat annoyed, but handed me the paper nonetheless. I quickly scribbled down some lines and tore the page out, handing it to her and bounded back out of the store. She watched me through the window, still confused as I brought the paper up and tapped it. The paper crumbled away to form a small ball of fire that gently illuminated the area where it floated. 

I looked back into the store and saw Amity’s eyes widen, clearly shocked by the fact that she witnessed me perform magic. I smiled at her and she immediately turned her gaze back to work, but I could see her mutter something under her breath. I smiled a while longer, this time to myself, not trying to hide how proud I was of the ball of fire. I had been performing magic for a few months now, but with each new glyph I drew, the more confident in myself I grew. Something like this would have never happened back on Earth, but now that I was in a world filled to the brim with magical opportunity, I practically hummed with excitement each time I tapped into just a sliver of it. 

I held my hands over the small ball of fire, feeling heat seep back into my body after some time. I went back to cleaning the windows, lingering longer and longer on each pane as I did. The ball began to fizzle out, and with a couple of spritzes from the spray bottle, the remaining embers fell to the ground, and what was once a ball of fire was now a wet pile of ash. 

Finally, after about 45 minutes of cleaning, I saw Willow’s round glasses, but instead of a messy outfit, her clothes were perfectly clean, albeit wrinkled, that was, until I saw her summon some branches and leaves from a small green circle. She sprinkled the debris into her hair and over her clothes, stopping her movements once she was done. I was sure she saw me, so I ducked behind the brick wall to the pizzeria. I peaked out from it, and I could see her take a few deep breaths and place her glasses off centre. The expression on her face puzzled me as well, and it quickly changed from an ever so slightly smug smile to a shame covered face. 

“What the…” I let out, and quickly clasped my hand over my mouth to avoid drawing attention to myself. 

Next, I saw a pink haired witch emerge from nearby, clothes awkwardly tucked in in odd places. She smoothed them out, a more natural crease falling over them. If I was puzzled before, now I was trying to solve a whole damn game of Clue. None of what I saw made sense, from Willow purposefully dirtying her clothes, to Boscha emerging from close by with seemingly no anger on her face. What was weirdest of all, was that neither of them seemed to acknowledge each other’s appearances, ignoring the idea of one another all together. Boscha walked in first, and as I peered further out, I could see her greet her friends as she sat down in her normal booth. 

Willow seemed to take her time going to the employee entrance, but as soon as I could see her turn the corner, I sprang from my hiding spot and jogged over to my supplies at the front. I gathered them up in my arms and went inside to question Willow on her strange behavior. 

Again, before I could even get to her, there was the green haired witch, storming her way past the table of teenagers to lecture Willow, but this time she seemed mad. Not disappointed, not upset, not even annoyed, but mad. She walked faster than I had ever seen before, almost jogging to catch Willow. 

A door slammed and my blood ran cold. Something didn’t feel right, and I could practically feel heat emanating from the break room as I drew near. The voices were muffled, but I could still make out the angry tone of Amity and the timid one of Willow. After what felt like forever, the door opened and both girls exited. Willow’s head hung low, and the faux shame I had seen before was now very real. Amity’s face was red, however her expression was unwavering. She was cold where previously an angry fire had once roared. Instead of standing in her uniform, Willow was dressed as she was before. It took me a moment before I realized what happened. My jaw went slack as I saw tears forming in Willow’s eyes. Instead of leaving out the front, she went back the way she came, leaving for good this time. 

“Hey wait!” I yelled, making both of the witches stop in their tracks. 

“Noceda, get back to work.” Amity’s voice was hoarse and quiet, but stern enough to make me pause. 

“Please Luz,” Willow’s voice pleaded, “You don’t have to-”

“Did you just fire Willow?” I didn’t care about what either of them had to say, I was going to stand up for Willow, even if she wouldn’t. Amity simply shrugged in response to me, as if to say ‘duh’.

“No no you can’t do that! She’s a really hard working employee I-” I struggled to find the right words, my heart hurting at the prospect of my only friend on the job leaving. 

I steadied my breath as both of them reluctantly drew near in order to keep me from raising my voice. 

“She’s a really good employee...” I repeated, grasping at straws for what to say next.

“Doesn’t matter, she’s shown up late too many times, and we here at the Boiling Isle Pizzeria simply can’t stand for that.” Amity said, as if reciting a company line. 

“Give her one more chance, she’ll prove you wrong, I promise. She won’t show up late for work one more time. I’ll… I’ll even walk with her to work so Boscha and her gang won’t jump her anymore!” Willow’s face went white, though I couldn’t tell from what. Amity seemed to think about it for a second, face softening ever so slightly, before hardening again. I continued on my point, and began listing all of the benefits I had noticed from just my short time working there. How efficiently messes were cleaned with her vines, how she just got a new regular to come in and somehow order the most expensive items on the menu. Everything that came to mind I said, and after a while, Amity held up her hand, abruptly stopping me. She let out a sigh, as if she was about to regret what she was going to say. 

“Listen, I can dock your pay for the next week, as well as keep an eye on you, but so long as you don’t show up late again, there shouldn’t be any problem.” Amity paused, as if thinking about a worse punishment. “Oh, and you’ll be on dishes for an indefinite amount of time, I’m getting tired of hearing customers complain that you smell like mud all the time.” The green haired witch started to walk away before stopping once more. 

“Congratulations human, you just earned yourself a promotion.”

Willow and I stood in the hall, processing what had just been said before turning to each other and erupting in a fit of squeals. 

“Did- did you just manage to convince Amity of all people? No one’s been able to do that… ever!” Willow said after a while, to which I replied by wiggling my eyebrows. 

“Must be my award winning charm.” We both giggled at that, and heard a cough from one green haired girl, telling us to get to work. 

Once Willow finished changing into her uniform, she ran me through the basic ins and outs of her job, like taking orders, being friendly, and carrying the food out. Those responsibilities on top of my pre existing ones seemed like a lot, however with Willow, and hopefully, Amity’s guidance, I’d get it down in no time. 

I fumbled through a good chunk of my orders, but made sure to apologize over and over when I made a mistake. Thankfully none of the orders were wrong, save for one, unnecessarily complicated one. 

I was at the table packed with girls, and when they finally stopped chatting to give me their orders, I could tell they were only going to make life harder. 

I had to bite back several remarks as the girls went around pointing out my ears, and all but one mentioned them. Boscha. Instead of making a comment about my ears, she just bent hers down in an effort to make them rounder, causing the table to erupt in laughter. I rolled my eyes and went on, asking them for their orders. 

It was simple enough, most of them just ordering a small dish or a drink, but when it came time for the pink haired witch to tell me what she wanted… well let’s just say I used many pieces of paper just to keep up with her. It got so long that I barely even remembered what she wanted in the first place, which means when I got to the kitchen to tell them the order, I stumbled over the many specifications. One part couldn’t be too cold, one part couldn’t be too hot. None of it even made sense. 

What made it worse, was when she took a bite of the order, she spit it out all over the floor and yelled that I had “tried to poison her with my human filth” and stormed out. None of them even bothered to pay, which, in turn, made Amity rather upset.

“What do you mean ‘they didn’t pay’?” Her voice was at a higher pitch than normal, the stress obvious in it. 

“I mean, Boscha gave me this really long order that made no sense and I- does she always do that? Or is it just cause I’m… y’know, a human?” I asked, ready to get in her face if need be. It wasn’t my fault the pink haired witch was a bully, and what was I gonna do? Overpower a group of highly capable witches? I couldn’t exactly throw a fire or ice spell at them.

Amity sighed, annoyed with the whole situation. 

“I know her parents I’ll just get her to pay, but if that ever happens again, I won’t hesitate to send you back to window duty.” She waved her hand and walked away, pulling her scroll from her pocket and dialing a number. As soon as the number picked up, her voice went from stressed and annoyed to sickly sweet with a note of kiss ass. 

Once she walked out of earshot, I returned back to my work, heading back out to the table where the girls had once been. The table was covered in uneaten food, abandoned by their owners. 

It was such a shame to waste the food, but there wasn’t anything I could do besides carry the dishes back to the kitchen. I got some stares from my coworkers as I balanced numerous full plates to the trash, but they never raised a remark. Once I finished scraping off the food into the trash, I took the plates to Willow and rested against the counter with a huff.

“Boscha.” Was all I said, and all I needed to say, because immediately Willow perked up with a confused yet knowing expression.

“So, she finally made her way to you, eh?” She asked, gradually taking plate after plate off of the stack. She scrubbed it clean, handing it off to a vine for drying. The way in which the vine moved was like watching the Kraken swallow a ship. It gripped a dry towel, and as it dried, more vines would whip around, placing the clean dishes onto a stack that rivaled me in height. The efficiency at which Willow worked was almost intimidating.

“Yeah uh… She gave me this suuuuuper complicated order that I totally couldn’t keep up with, and then when it came out obviously wrong, she just like, spit it out everywhere and stormed off. Who even does that? It was like… It was like every mean girls movie ever- ugh!” Willow paused at the mention of a movie, but resumed her dishes, ignoring whatever foreign concept I just mentioned. 

“She’s… a lot, I know, oh Titan do I, but honestly if you just ignore her she goes away after a while…” Willow stared harder into the sink, eye boring into the dishes she was doing. Obviously I was entering a territory I shouldn’t be, but I couldn’t help myself.

“Come on Willow, do you really call coming into work late because she gets off on beating you up ‘going away’? Hell, you nearly got fired!” I felt my temper rise once more, and I had to hold myself back from saying some really not nice things. Willow went silent, focusing hard at the task at hand. I scoffed and pushed off of the counter, making my way back to the restaurant. 

Anger mixed with sadness clouded my mind as I thought about Willow, and the problem she had with Boscha. She could ignore it, deny it, and try to separate herself from it all she wanted, but at the end of the day, it was bad, and I could tell by the looks on her face that it was getting to her more than she was willing to say. 

Dear Boscha,  
Fuck you.  
Sincerely, Luz the human.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks y'all for the comments and Kudos, they really mean a lot to me <3


	6. Conflict of Interest pt. 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Uhhh i dont know what to tell yall other than: g a y s h i t g i v e s m e l i f e

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry I haven't posted the update in a while, I've been quite busy with Halloween related things, which has just sapped my creativity. Anyway, enjoy the chapter. The part two will (hopefully) come much sooner than this one had, but idk man, my brain be funky as shit. Enjoy!

\------

Embarrassed was not a good look on Amity, or it was, but she didn’t wear it well. 

It happened almost as soon as the verdant haired twins burst open the door. Amity’s demeanor went from it’s usual unapproachable coldness, and immediately into annoyed embarrassment.

She vehemently refused to serve their table, citing a ‘conflict of disinterest’ as her case. I didn’t mind taking the table, and of course I wasn’t going to refuse a chance to serve two admittedly attractive patrons. 

They were older than me by at least a year or so, but still acted as immature as Gus. The two of them were almost identically matched, both wearing maroon tunics with puffy black sleeves. Their slacks were a reddish grey, with cuffs that matched the tunics. It was almost uncanny how similar the two looked, their only distinguishing features being hair length and beauty marks. The male twin, who introduced himself as Edric had fluffy hair, spiked up with whatever magical products that were available on the Isle. The female one, who’s name was Emira, had long hair woven into the most effortless braid I’ve ever seen. I stared at them for far longer than I meant to, studying their features as something evaded my mind. They looked almost… familiar. 

Snapping back to reality, I took their thankfully simple orders and headed back to the kitchen. Thankfully, I picked the job up well, and the more orders I took, the easier it came. I meandered around the restaurant, checking up on tables and taking a few, fairly easy orders. I finally made my way back to pick up the food, sighing as I looked at the clock. 

I picked up the twin’s food and turned to leave, but just as I did, I felt a hand pull me off to the side. I almost dropped my plates, but thank god I didn’t. Amity’s ears were pinned down as she tentatively looked to the table where the twins sat. She finally turned her gaze to me, golden eyes still cold, but with the barest hint of something more. Then it dawned on me. The eyes. That’s why the two green haired siblings looked so familiar. I was so distracted by the dots connecting in my head that I didn’t even notice Amity start to talk. 

“Seriously- Luz. Luz? Hello? Are you even listening to me?” The witch waved a hand in front of my face to bring me out of my trance. I nodded blankly as she resumed talking, her obviously upset tone slowly zoning me back in.

“Anyway, whatever you do, don’t-”

“Your eyes.” I didn’t even mean to say it, and I mentally drop kicked myself for it. Amity sputtered for a bit, temper rising, obviously caught off guard by my statement. 

“My- What?” Amity finally said, a hint of fury in her voice.

“No no, I just mean-” Quick dumbass, recover 

“I just mean that you’ve got the same eyes as the twins and- ohmygod Amity are y’all related?” 

I didn’t think her face could fall further than it already had, but there I was, standing in a hallway, holding plates of food and watching my own life flash before my eyes. Something dangerous flashed over Amity’s gaze, and I felt myself tense up. She nodded slowly, taking a deep breath.

“That’s what I was trying to say. Don’t listen to them, they say… a lot of stuff and most of it’s rather rude.” she sighed, clearly speaking from personal experience. She seemed oddly vulnerable with that admission, but I decided not to press it further. I nodded my head enthusiastically, choosing not to verbally respond for fear of more embarrassment. 

We parted ways, her off to do whatever else her job entailed, and I was off to serve food to her siblings. Based on first impressions alone, the siblings could not have been further from each other. Amity was cold, and obviously not willing to converse for longer than necessary. Everything she seemed to do was veiled in an air of superiority, whereas the twins were easy to get along with, and very loud. When I say loud, I mean it. I could hear their voices from where I was behind the counter, and it was at one of the busiest times for the shop. 

I brought the now warm food out, and set it at the table. The two looked at me, smirking, obviously kicking each other from under the table judging by their small winces. The girl stifled a giggle and put on a straight face, as if she was about to ask me something grave. 

What she said was the opposite of what I expected, by far. 

“So, you and my sister seem close, I don’t think I’ve ever seen her willingly touch another person, let alone a human~” I shivered, thinking back to what Amity said. 

“I mean, I don’t blame her, you are kinda cute.” She added, and I felt a blush immediately hit my face. I couldn’t tell which part made my face grow red, but somewhere in that sea of bi confusion, I could feel the heat in my ears grow stronger and stronger.

I stuttered, trying to think of what to say. My reaction only made the girl laugh, and the guy at the table seemed quite smug. I stumbled again, barely forming a meager “thank you” at the girl, which only made her laugh harder. 

I abruptly turned on my heels and walked away, body still rigid with confusion. 

The entire walk back to the kitchen felt entirely too long, giving me too much time to think over what just happened. My brain has this funny habit of overthinking, and I was certainly reading too much into what Emira had said. Certainly, Amity had been acting strange, but I just assumed that that was due to her siblings entering her place of work, unless? Nah, that’s stupid, and I may be dumb, but I’m sure as hell not stupid. I was probably reading too much into it anyway. She was caught off guard, that happens. Even the most stone cold of people could be messed up, and that’s probably what made her so upset. 

The whole day, Amity seemed off, from almost firing Willow to getting nervous because of her brother and sister, and that pattern of behavior only continued as the day progressed. 

Everytime I would pass by Emira and Edric, there was Amity out of the corner of my eye, watching the two green haired twins with an anger that was only cut back by the concern she had. She didn’t look at me, just at the two boisterous Blights. The more I conversed with the twins, the less alike they seemed to Amity, and the idea that two outgoing people and one reserved one could be raised by the same people only sent more questions into my mind. 

They paid, creating no fuss as the previous customers had, and once they left, a weight lifted from my shoulders. I was nervous around them, and the only reason I didn’t fall the entire time they were there was simply because I was overly cautious. I didn't want to make a fool of myself in front of the two, and as I watched them leave, I noticed just how late it had gotten. It was almost time to go home when Lilith pulled me into her office. 

The air temperature dropped significantly as I crossed the threshold, and since there didn’t seem to be any fans in the room, it must’ve been her aura that caused the air to drop to a chill that rivaled that of the outside. 

She cleared her throat. Once more my back tensed, and I could feel my form shrink in her terrifyingly abundant presence. 

“So, Noceda, Amity informs me that you will be taking on Willow’s job from now on, is that correct?” Her cold green eyes bore into me, and I immediately felt like withering away. I gulped, hard, and nodded way too much, and I felt my hair fall out of place. 

“In that case, you will be helping my protege lock up tonight, in the event that you need to do it in case she misses a day, which I doubt. Understood?” The confidence in her voice rivaled that of Eda’s, and there was no question at the end of her sentence, only a rhetorical affirmation. I nodded once again, finally finding my voice to respond.

“Yes ma’am, uh, how long will that take? I need to text Eda and let her know I’ll be home late.” Her expression never wavered, however I felt the ominous wave emitted at the mention of my mentor. 

“Ah, so you are acquainted with the Owl Lady, yes?” My head was starting to hurt from all the nodding.

“When you see her, tell her she has yet to pay her tab.” She gestured for the door, leaving my question unanswered. Exiting the room, I exhaled as I felt my lungs expand with the warm air of the pizzeria. Most of the staff was cleaning up their stations, the end of the day sending a sigh of relief through patrons and staff alike. The front was empty now, spare a single guest who took the unspoken hint and finished his plate, leaving a stack of snails on the table as he left. I jogged out to clean up his plate, narrowly avoiding bumping into Willow as I slid past the sink. I quickly brought back the dishes, and once those were done, she left to the back to change. She was obviously in a hurry, so who was I to stand in her way. She rushed out of the door in her casual clothes, fumbling to pull her scroll from her pocket. 

Then it was empty, leaving Amity and myself alone in the vast store. 

I wanted to ask, to talk, to do anything to bridge the gap but I couldn’t bring myself to do anything other than grab the broom and dustpan and begin to sweep. That was the case until I heard a shuffle behind me and light footfalls. I turned to see Amity fidgeting, worry on her face.

Shit, she’s really out of it, huh?

I wanted to say something, but we just stood there, her looking at the ground and me looking at her. After a while, she spoke, but the voice that came from her was slow and quiet, nothing like the stern and admittedly quite scary Amity Blight that I had come to know. 

“I’m sorry if they said anything… Awkward to you.” She apologized, preemptively, for something that happened to me. 

“Ok, did I wake up wrong or are you apologizing to me?” I had to stop myself from laughing, not out of humiliation, but out of nerves. My body thrummed with them, set off dramatically by the drastic change in composure from the green haired witch that stood opposite me. Her face went pale, paler than before that is, and she shook her head as if to say that she knew this was a bad idea, however she pushed on. 

“Luz I’m serious, they didn’t do anything, did they? They have a habit of crossing the line.” She sighed, almost as if she were caught in a flashback. 

“Nah, they mostly just… flirted, which was ok, I mean I certainly didn’t mind…” I trailed off, chuckling nervously at what I just said. Amity shot up at this, an unreadable expression on her face. I felt my ears burning, and if they were as expressive as a witch’s, they’d most definitely be pinned down. It felt like I was back in the minefield of talking to Amity, terrified of each step I took. I gripped the broom tight, knuckles turning white as I feared I was moving back to square one. I couldn’t tell which part set off Amity, but I’m sure that hearing that her siblings were flirting so flippantly with her coworker did not go over well. 

“Haha, and just like that, you’re scary again, cool,” more words slipped from my mouth, but as soon as I said them, the witch became painfully self aware of her actions and made an honest attempt to soften them.

“Sorry it’s just… They’re so carefree and whatever, but flirting with a human- no offense- is kind of a big deal. Plus it’s just… weird.” She didn’t elaborate, but she didn’t need to. I’m a human, everyone sees me as less than, just like back home, where I was bullied just for having different interests and being myself. She could say “no offense” all she wanted, but it still hurt. Even after I’ve tried to prove time and time again that I’m just as much of a person as the other witches. I turned back to sweeping with more anger than intended, hopefully ending the conversation there.

A few more awkward moments went by as I swept and Amity supervised, both of us clearly made uncomfortable by the previous subject matter. My sweeping increased in speed in an attempt to get us out of there faster. 

“So…” Amity’s voice came hesitant, as if trying to solve her own puzzle, just as I had been doing with her. 

“That… thing you did earlier with the paper. What was that?” A genuine attempt at conversation. Sure her voice was laced with discomfort, but she seemed at least slightly intrigued. I looked up from my task, taking a moment to recall what she was referring to. 

“Oh! The fire thing?” I asked.

“Mhmm, what exactly was that? I’ve never seen human curiosities do that.” She responded with her own question.

“That’s because it’s magic, well, an old kinda magic I guess. I can’t exactly do magic like y’all, so I have to write these… glyphs on paper in order to perform it.” Amity nodded slowly, trying to grasp the concept I was describing, still confused.

“Ok so, you know how the Isle is like, full of magic? Well, turns out I can use the natural magic by doing little symbols that work just as well as your bile-sack-thingy.” My eyes began to light up with excitement, and I pulled out my paper from my apron pocket. I skipped across the floor to stand before Amity, who stood up as tall as possible, clearly guarding herself as I began to draw. 

A simple circle with simplified designs within was all I drew, and it clearly only caused the greenette more confusion. 

“Tap it.” A black tipped finger came from her pocket, and hesitantly towards the paper that I held before her. 

Poke.

The paper sprouted from my hand, a small flower building from the design. Amity stepped back in astonishment, eyes wide, a hint of childlike wonder to them. I held the plant out to her, offering for her to take it. She did, and as it transferred hands, the paper fell away, leaving Amity with a small purple flower that stemmed confidently from a solid patch of dirt. She examined it gently, with a care that I had never seen before. She looked a little like Willow in the way that she stared at the plant. 

“I get that it’s not like your magic, but it’s something.” A small smile crossed my face as she watched the plant subtly tilt itself as she moved. The scene was a dramatic contrast to previous encounters with Amity, and almost made me forget what the twins said to me. 

Keyword: Almost.

My face lit up in a light blush that I struggled to keep down, as I watched a now tender Amity’s eyes sparkle with wonder. They weren’t cold like they had been, rather full of wonder and I felt the air in my lungs hitch when I caught myself staring. I didn’t stop. It was a different side to the once bitchy witch, a more genuine side. A part of her that was clawing for wonder, but couldn’t take that final step. Her hair fell forward from behind her ears and I felt the blush fight it’s way up my cheeks again. It took a strange amount of impulse control to suppress the urge to brush it from her face.

Fuck. 

“Luz, you are delirious, you do not find Amity Bight, crown princess of callous, pretty.” A voice started to yell in the back of my head, pulling me from my now frequent daydreams. Neither of us had moved in about a minute, Amity enraptured by the plant, and I caught up in some wild thought of finding the witch attractive. Sure, she wasn’t bad looking at all, sharing in many of the good features her siblings had, and yeah, ok, her style was badass, and maybe, maaaybe, from certain angles she was stunning, but there is no way I’d find such an unfriendly person pretty.

Right?

Oh god, do I like Amity Blight?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ahhh wowie, it's november already. Hope y'all had a wonderful halloween (if you celebrate it), despite the shitty times.


	7. Conflict of Interest pt. 2 electric boogaloo

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Short chapter! Basically just a lil more insight into Luz's brain cause y'know, its gay.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I promise next chapter will be longer, I just wanted to do a lil chapter for reaching 1k hits. Thank y'all so much for this!!

\------

Amity Blight of all people…

Ugh why couldn’t it have been someone simple, like Willow?I mean, she’s super sweet and caring, but nope. My brain decided to betray me. 

Of course it’d be her. I was always trying to impress her right? Trying to show her that I was more than just a useless human. No, I was trying to impress everyone, it wasn’t my fault she looked super cute earlier- shit. I really have to stop thinking of her as cute and pretty, even if she is. 

Stop it Luz, she’s your coworker, not some high school classmate, you have to be professional. She hates you, right? Amity definitely doesn’t like me, and even if she did, she’s not gay. I’ve seen the way she acts, I’m like, pretty sure she doesn’t like girls. 

“Fuck you feelings!” I yelled to the air. 

As soon as we parted ways, the air practically left my lungs, as if they had been filled by the energy of another. Thoughts ran through my mind at a mile a minute, and the longer I had been left alone, the more overthinking I managed to do. 

I couldn’t keep my damn mind off of the Blight, and every once in a while I’d make a strangled “ugh” as I reached a particularly uncomfortable train of thought. 

It was a crush, nothing more, nothing less, I’d get over it eventually. 

I remember the first time I had a crush on a girl. It felt different than one on a guy, more innocent and curious. It wasn’t harmful and it never filled me with spite. I was in middle school, and for some reason, I signed up for Romeo and Juliet… As Romeo. Normally for a school play, I would have signed up as Tybalt, or someone else with a cool death scene, but nope, it had to be Romeo. 

The whole reason I signed up for Romeo was a little confusing at first, mostly due to me brushing it off as wanting to have a dramatic death scene. Turns out, I had the fattest crush you could ever have on the girl trying out for Juliet, and apparently, somewhere in my 14 year old mind, that was an excuse enough to dress up and stab my own intestines out. Well… not my actual intestines of course, but it certainly freaked people out so much so that it had been as if I had. 

The girl in question was absolutely disgusted by my awesome performance that she purposefully distanced herself for the rest of the year. That made me feel terrible. 

Which brings me back to now, and the constant thoughts running through my mind. 

How was I going to fuck up this time. 

I knew Amity had no intention of dating me, and probably anyone else for that matter, but I could definitely make her hate me more. Wonder how I’d do it though. Would I fall too many times and piss her off? No, too boring. Would I singe her eyebrows off with a spell? That’s more like it. In a world full of magic and chaos, the level of dumbfuckery I could pull off is nearly infinite, creating a double edged sword on which I would most assuredly impale myself. 

I really have to learn to turn my brain off. I used to be able to do it when I was younger, I’d bury myself in Azura fiction, and just forget about the bullying, the teasing, and the alienation, but nope, just thinking of the badass witch from the books reminded me of Amity. It was mostly her green hair, but you get the point. 

“I really need a hobby.”

King was less helpful than expected, which honestly wasn’t that much, but still. I wasn’t going to spill my new found, hopeless information to him, but his level of apathy for my day sent me into a spiral of tired, loopy thinking. 

Then I had an idea. A wonderfully brilliant stupid idea. 

“I should buy a scroll.”

I bounded down the stairs and nearly right into my mentor as I felt the newfound excitement thrumming in my body. 

“OhmygodEdarememberwhenyousaidIcouldgetascroll?” I incoherently babbled to a clearly annoyed witch. 

“Woah woah woah, slow down kid, it’s like, midnight.” She said, the sleep prominent in her voice.

“Eda, it’s 10. Anyway, you remember when you said I could get a scroll?”

“I believe my exact words were ‘no, it’ll rot your brain’ and ‘no’ again.” She was clearly trying to steer me from my goal, but I wasn’t so easily swayed, or I was, but this time I was determined.

“No no, you said you’d help me buy it, and I really want to buy it, like, I reeeeally want to.” Eda scanned me over for any waiver I might have, but I knew when to pull out my poker face when needed. 

“Are you sure?”

“More sure than I’ve ever been.” I responded, nodding enthusiastically. 

“Why do you even want one? You’ve got that communication thingy, right? Isn’t that kinda like a scroll?” I let out a little whine, not wanting to tell her the real reason, which was far more embarrassing than literally anything I could think of.

“But it’s not the same thing. I wanna be able to text Willow, and Gus, and my other coworkers, plus I kinda need it in case my schedule changes due to uh… work… things…” Ok, so my argument might have fallen apart at that last bit, but I could see in Eda’s eyes that she knew I was going to stop at nothing. 

After a few minutes of pointless bickering, her eyes softened and she gave in.

“Tell ya what kiddo, when I’m out in the market tomorrow, I’ll pick one up for ya, but you have to promise to pay me back.” She ruffled my hair and let out a small sigh, leaving me eagerly bouncing up and down in the living room. I heard scampering from upstairs, followed by a door shutting. 

Yeah nope, I wasn’t sleeping tonight. 

That’s exactly what happened. 

I sat for about 3 hours, just staring at the vague dots on the ceiling of my tiny closet of a room. It wasn’t the best way to spend my night, but at least the excitement of getting a scroll distracted me from the thought of Amity. Oh goddammit. 

“Uuuugh, feelings suck!” I whispered in a harsh tone as thoughts of the greenette slowly populated my brain once more. 

Nope, nuh uh, not going through this again. I refuse to let that witch take over my life, I am Luz Noceda, witch in training and potential trainwreck. 

And then, as if it were by magic, a solution. 

“Perfect. I’ll just ignore it, that always works back home, there’s no way it wouldn’t work now!”

Ah yes, ignoring, the thing I have perfected. That’s all I have to do, ignore Amity Blight for long enough that it makes my feelings subside. 

This will totally work.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'll be posting as soon as I can, promise it'll be over 2k words this time!! Stay safe tonight, it's election day and us here in America are having a rough go of it, so be safe, stay indoors, and have a good night!


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